Rating: 
Summary: Well worth finishing!
Review: Charlie Parker reminded me of Dennis Lehane or Michael Connelly's protagonists: all too human, wrestling with the insidious necessity of "the end justifying the means" when trying to stop someone who seems the embodiment of evil. I loved the tension as Connolly paints in the details of the surroundings before inexorably spiraling in on the horror of the murder scenes. The second half of the book has lots of brooding ambiance and breakneck pacing, using New Orleans and the South as its backdrop. This is a smart, well-researched book, and I hope that Charlie, Angel, and Louis return for another installment.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!!
Review: After a drunken binge, NYPD Charlie "Bird" Parker comes home to find his wife and young daughter hideously murdered. Months later, tormented by the brutal attacks and no longer a detective, "Bird" tracks the killer from New York to the South, haunted by grief and visions of the dead. Gruesome and violent, yet lyrical and darkly humorous, John Connolly delivers a gripping, intelligent page-turner that lures you in with its horror, yet beautifully delicate and subtle prose. In an over-populated genre, Connolly is one of those rare, true talents whose work should not be overlooked.
Rating: 
Summary: Serial potential
Review: John Connolly in his novel Every Dead Thing shows great potential for developing Charlie "Bird" Parker into the type of detective used for a series of novels as Harry Bosch of Michael Connelly's books and Lincoln Rhyme of Jeffrey Deavers.Parker is a man tormented by the murders of his wife and daughter , who seeks to atone for his guilt by finding Catherine Demeter. While he is not successful he believes it is time to find his families killer and journeys to the Big Easy. As many readers noted the book is so full of characters it is virtually impossible to sort them out and at one point it seem the killer was going to be someone who I wasn't even sure how he had appeared. The book was also as others noted just too gory. Factors I do not even care to mention make these murders impossible. I do see so much potential in Connolly's writing and an interesting chief character, that I debated on giving three or four stars. If he does write another book, I suggest he write one at a time instead of the two in one.
Rating:
Summary: TWO, TWO, TWO BOOKS IN ONE!
Review: I AM NOT ENTIRELY THROUGH READING THIS BOOK, BUT HAVE READ ENOUGH THAT I BELIEVE I CAN COMMENT SEMI-INTELLIGENTLY. FIRST - THE GOOD NEWS: SOME GREAT CHARACTERS - ANGEL AND HIS LOVER ARE PRICELESS - NOW - THE BAD: THIS COULD EASILY HAVE BEEN TWO SEPARATE BOOKS - ONE INVOLVING THE TRAVELLING MAN AND ONE INVOLVING THE SEARCH FOR THE MISSING WOMAN IN VIRGINIA. UNLESS HE TIES THESE TWO PLOTS TOGETHER IN THE LAST 50 OR SO PAGES, I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY HE CLUTTERED UP THE BOOKS SO BADLY. FOR AN IRISHMAN, HE HAS AN AMAZING FEEL FOR DIALECT AND CULTURE AND AMERICANA - I'VE FOUND TWO "BRITISHISMS" - JUMPER FOR SWEATER, TRAINERS FOR RUNNING SHOES. AS A WEST VIRGINIAN (BY CHOICE, NOT BIRTH) I DO FEEL HE BASED HIS VIRGINIA CHARACTERS ON THE MOVIE "DELIVERANCE" - NOT EVERY APPALACHIAN SOUTHERNER IS AS STEREOTYPICAL AS HE PORTRAYS THEM - AS A MATTER OF FACT, I'VE NEVER MET ANYONE FITTING HIS STEREOTYPES. PERHAPS READERS FROM NY AND NEW ORLEANS MAY HAVE SIMILAR COMPLAINTS. ALSO, I'M NOT ENTIRELY SURE THAT PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS CAN WORK UNLICENSED, PARTICULARLY GOING FROM STATE TO STATE - I KNOW THIS STATE HAS STRICT REQUIREMENTS FOR BEING A P.I. PLUS, HIS CONSTANT EASY ACCESS TO LAW ENFORCEMENT - WHEREVER HE WENT - WAS OVERDONE. ALL IN ALL, AN INTERESTING BOOK, BUT FRUSTRATING IN ITS CLUTTER. STICK TO ONE STORY AT A TIME! EITHER WOULD HAVE MADE AN INTERESTING BOOK.
Rating: 
Summary: A great read for a first time writer
Review: This book was great with a great plot and good character development. The bad part about the book was that the main character was just too smart and lucky to belive that he could possibly be real. But other than that the book was great.
Rating:
Summary: Great way to start.
Review: Since they're are already some really detailed reviews about the storyline I thought I'd do something different and give you some opinions I had about this book and the subsequent reviews. I really liked and recommend this book. In response to some of the complaints about it...1)yes there were a lot of characters to keep track of. You see that all the time in a Tom Clancey novel. 2)He didn't develope the main character enough. True, but if you're like me and you try to assign someone you know (actor wise)to a character, then it left the door open for you to jump right into Bird Parker's shoes yourself. As if you are viewing everything first hand. 3)He didn't explain the motives behind the Travelling Man other than the poets told him to. That really mirrors life, where there is no solid reasoning that causes a psycho to go on a killing spree. This isn't a quick read. It's a complicated thriller that takes a few to comprehend. John Connolly gets a big pat on the back for this one and I really look forward to his next one.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, but frustrating.
Review: Like many of the other reviewers, I found John Connolly to be a fascinating author. His use of the language and ability to create complex characters is quite extraordinary, especially for the thriller genre. I don't usually encounter such erudite references to historical resources in murder mysteries, and I found these references very interesting. The picture I get of Mr. Connolly is of a journalist who encountered many people, places & things in his travels, and had many ideas he wanted to incorporate in a novel. Unfortunately, he decided to incorporate all of them in the SAME novel. I gamely followed Charlie "Bird" Parker around the country, and I endeavored to remember enough characters to populate "War & Peace", feeling that all of them would tie together in some important way. However, by the book's end, he has tracked 2 separate serial killers, and we have been taken on 2 separate tours of Mob/Mafia/Organized Crime/Cajun battles for domination. Having struggled to the finish we get to learn almost nothing about the psychology and motivation of The Travelling Man, and why he revolved so many of his crimes around "Bird". My main question is: where were the editors??? Why did they not say.."John, you are an incredibly gifted storyteller, but you need to concentrate on one (or at most two)story(ies) at a time". I felt that the power of the writing and the tale being told was diluted by all the mayhem and extraneous characters. Mr. Connolly is indeed very gifted. I always thrill to read prose of that caliber, but I was frustrated to see the complex mess he made of the story by the end. I look forward to his next work because of his talent, and live in hope that his editors take a firmer hand.
Rating: 
Summary: Not For The Squeamish
Review: Sometimes less is more. Connolly hammers the reader with so much violence and gore, that by the end of the book it is almost meaningless and the reader is numb. The plot line is unusual in that one mystery is solved only to flow into another. Although the writing is very good, I didn't find anything else in this story to recommend to others. Definitely not for the squeamish.
Rating: 
Summary: Take This Garbage Out To The Trash, Please!
Review: This novel is so bad. That is practically all I can say. The back of the book says an amazing thriller just like Thomas Harris's Hannibal. That I can definitely say is a BIG LIE! I thought the main character was very poorly developed. The book was VERY confusing in the event that it kept going from the present to the past without even telling the reader what time they were in. And suspenseful, GIVE ME A BREAK! I was so bored. Whoever reviewed this book and said it was good, obviously hasn't read a variety of suspense novels to know what trash is when they read it. Sorry Mr. Connolly hopefully your next novel is better, even though I wouldn't read it!
Rating:
Summary: Needs a scapel
Review: A talented writer who seems to have squeezed two books together. Oddly disjointed. After a fast start, the book bogs down. Great atmosphere, but less would have been more.
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